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Decades after the world was introduced to the Internet and after its offspring social media grew into metaverses of its own, a stark red line has been drawn to differentiate between good, bad and evil.

Where this red line starts and ends is stuck in debate purgatory, but many governments aren’t waiting for the jury’s decision.

They have imposed huge penalties against these platforms for privacy violations and misconduct.

Regardless, the desired red line should play out on the good: thriving communities of selfless and altruistic individuals, humanitarians and idealists advocating for learning, knowledge, collaboration, exchanges of ideas, creativity and wisdom.

Out of Earth’s eight billion inhabitants, 5.35 billion have Internet access and 5.04 billion use social media. Of that number, 95 per cent are teenagers aged 13 to 17, with a third of them practically living inside social media bubbles.

This vulnerable category is where the red line is crossed: social media has been found to affect mental health, aggravate depression, worsen loneliness and cause low self-esteem.

Youngsters covet the dopamine fix from “likes” for their posts. They are also exposed to violent, sexual or aggressive images and ripostes.

Some are tricked into sharing private information and embarrassing pictures or videos without realising they will be misused by cybercriminals.

This is what Communications Minister Fahmi Fadzil aimed to tackle in his talks with representatives from Meta Platforms Inc, the owner of Facebook, which critics claim encourages hatred, lies and misinformation. Fahmi reprimanded Facebook for failing to address paedophilia and child grooming, but more powerful people worldwide have presented similar cases against Facebook without impact.

Indictments, even massive fines of billions, have been useless. Like fellow social media titans, Facebook remains belligerent out of pure capitalism.

Meta Platforms, which also owns Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, is worth an obscene US$1.125 trillion in market capitalisation.

It profited US$39 billion just last year. So, there is no impetus for Meta Platforms to reform its hyper-lucrative business model of sham and scam.

So how do you jolt these giants where it hurts?

A re-education of users — human foibles being what they are — is hopeless.

Perhaps adopt the boycotts that ruined the profits of brick-and-mortar retailers that back Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians.

Since a ban may be counter-productive, global campaigns to abandon them have to be energised.

If boycotters can forgo fast food, lattes and apparels that indirectly help Israel, apps from unethical companies can be uninstalled, too.

The outcome can be positive: people might return to a time where the digital environment was productive, sane and forgiving.

Original article: nst.com.my